Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

When he had spoken thus, the officer directing the execution gave a
sign to the Eta, Shigayémon, and ordered him to finish the execution, so
that Sôgorô should speak no more. So Shigayémon pierced him twelve
or thirteen times, until he died. And when he was dead, his head turned
and faced the castle. When the two councillors beheld this miracle, they
came down from their raised platform, and knelt down before Sôgorô's
dead body and said—
"Although you were but a peasant on this estate, you conceived a
noble plan to succour the other farmers in their distress. You bruised
your bones, and crushed your heart, for their sakes. Still, in that you appealed
to the Shogun in person, you committed a grievous crime, and
made light of your superiors; and for this it was impossible not to punish
you. Still we admit that to include your wife and children in your crime,
and kill them before your eyes, was a cruel deed. What is done, is done,
and regret is of no avail. However, honours shall be paid to your spirit:
you shall be canonized as the Saint Daimiyô, and you shall be placed
among the tutelar deities of my lord's family."
With these words the two councillors made repeated reverences before
the corpse; and in this they showed their faithfulness to their lord. But
he, when the matter was reported to him, only laughed scornfully at the
idea that the hatred of a peasant could affect his feudal lord; and said
that a vassal who had dared to hatch a plot which, had it not been for his
high office, would have been sufficient to ruin him, had only met with
his deserts. As for causing him to be canonized, let him be as he was.
Seeing their lord's anger, his councillors could only obey. But it was not
long before he had cause to know that, though Sôgorô was dead, his vengeance
was yet alive.
The relations of Sôgorô and the elders of the villages having been
summoned to the Court-house, the following document was issued:—
"Although the property of Sôgorô, the elder of the village of Iwahashi,
is confiscated, his household furniture shall be made over to his two
married daughters; and the village officials will look to it that these few
poor things be not stolen by lawless and unprincipled men.
"His rice-fields and corn-fields, his mountain land and forest land, will
be sold by auction. His house and grounds will be given over to the elder
of the village. The price fetched by his property will be paid over to the
lord of the estate.
"The above decree will be published, in full, to the peasants of the village;
and it is strictly forbidden to find fault with this decision.
"The 12th day of the 2d month, of the 2d year of the period Shôhô."
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